Risk factors for acute kidney injury during aminoglycoside therapy in patients with cystic fibrosis

Kevin J. Downes, Neha R. Patil, Marepalli B. Rao, Rajesh Koralkar, William T. Harris, John P. Clancy, Stuart L. Goldstein, David J. Askenazi

Aminoglycoside (AG) therapy is a common cause of acute kidney injury (AKI) in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. The aim of this study was to identify factors associated with AKI during intravenous AG courses in this population. This was a matched case-control study utilizing two independent cohorts of hospitalized CF patients receiving ≥3 days of intravenous AG at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and Children's of Alabama. All admissions with AKI (cases, N = 82) were matched to two randomly selected admissions without AKI (controls, N = 164) by center, gender, and age ±3 years of the case. AKI was defined as a 1.5-fold increase in the baseline serum creatinine (SCr) level or by an increase in SCr level of 0.3 mg/dL within 48 h. Admissions with AKI before day 4 or without at least weekly SCr monitoring were excluded from the analysis. Factors were compared between cases and controls using simple and multiple conditional logistic regression. Multivariable analysis identified receipt of an AG within 90 days prior to admission, longer duration of AG therapy, low serum albumin, and receipt of trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole as independent risk factors for developing AKI. Infection with Staphylococcus aureus diminished the odds of developing AKI. This study identifies risk factors contributing to AG-associated AKI in CF patients. These findings can be used to anticipate high-risk scenarios and limit AKI in CF patients under clinical care.